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New Book edited by Profs. Caputo and Sterk has Origins at UF

Faithful Narratives: Historians, Religion, and the Challenge of Objectivity presents a rich variety of approaches to the study of religious beliefs, practices, and communities in historical context. The themes addressed in this volume are both timely and pressing. Each contributor participated in a three-semester series of lectures and seminars at the University of Florida hosted by the History Department in collaboration with several other departments and centers on campus in 2008 and 2009.

The study of religion in history poses many distinctive challenges. Some historians ignore religious phenomena and evidence altogether, while others aim their work at a narrow audience of co-religionists. Certainly all historians who work in this area have had to struggle with the complex interpretive issues involved in the analysis of religious texts, practices, and experiences. Like the lecture series, this volume acknowledges and confronts such challenges and offers multiple responses to them. All of the scholars in this work exemplify compelling strategies for negotiating the difficulties inherent in this increasingly important subfield of historical study. In essays ranging chronologically from late antiquity to modern America, and thematically from the spirituality of near eastern monks to women’s agency in religion, these historians engage with particular religious issues or themes in a theoretically critical yet sensitive manner. Conversations with faculty and students at the University of Florida and with members of the larger Gainesville community helped to shape the final form these essays have taken, making this a truly collaborative effort.

Click on image for more details of the book. Contents listed below.

Introduction: The Challenge of Religion in History ANDREA STERK AND NINA CAPUTO

Part One: Late Antique and Medieval Religious Debates and Their Modern Implications